You guys should be able to demolish the saints. They only put up 31 points on us after we turned the ball over 5 times. And I know for a fact that your offense will take care of the ball better than we would have. Good luck, i'm rooting or ya guys.

You guys should be able to demolish the saints. They only put up 31 points on us after we turned the ball over 5 times. And I know for a fact that your offense will take care of the ball better than we would have. Good luck, i'm rooting or ya guys.

I know every matchup is different but I just don't think the Saints defense is going to be able to stop the Colts. Thanks for the well wishes. I know it must suck to see your team choke like that (believe me as a Colts fan I've seen more than a few post season chokes), but I am glad we're playing the Saints as I think the Vikings would've been a tougher matchup for us.

I know every matchup is different but I just don't think the Saints defense is going to be able to stop the Colts. Thanks for the well wishes. I know it must suck to see your team choke like that (believe me as a Colts fan I've seen more than a few post season chokes), but I am glad we're playing the Saints as I think the Vikings would've been a tougher matchup for us.

Saints are the Chargers of the NFC, they are a very good screening team, they have tall WRs that can outjump our CBs and they can get a lot of big plays on their passing offense. Brees' has had his share of struggles against the Cover 2 and Cover 3 schemes of the Bucs in the past, Coyer's experience at Tampa and in Denver (though Brees' was in a different offensive scheme with the Chargers) playing against Brees should help.

To me, this game is about 2 key things for the Colts to win the game:

1. Running the ball for over 100 yards to control tempo, minimize turnovers that the Saints' D thrives on, keep our DL rotation fresh with Freeney not playing most downs even if he plays, and do what other teams do to Manning, keep Brees' on the sidelines and restrict their playcalling if they fall behind. The Saints have given up 19 rushing TDs while they gave up 15 passing TDs and 26 INTs. Most of their playoff TDs have also been rushing TDs. What does that tell you? Pass and run in a balanced fashion to get to the red zone, and while in the red zone, run more than pass thus reducing the turnover factor the Saints' D thrives on.

2. Our LBs and CBs tackling real well and keeping things in front of them thus possibly forcing a mistake from the Saints' offense if they go for a big play every now and then. If the tackling is bad, all bets are off. We know we have the speed to get to the RB that catches the screen pass, the question is can we get him down with a sure tackle almost every time.

I think I may have touched upon this a while ago. I do feel our pass D has slightly regressed with all the injuries to our secondary but our run D numbers have improved compared to the previous year (if you take the last 2 games' numbers away). But the key to note is the Saints still rely on the run for their play action to work. If the Saints cannot run the ball well, their playcalling can get one-dimensional and easier for us to defend.

Too many mistakes and penalties. Heck, I called that onside kick at my neighbor's SB party knowing Sean Payton's penchant for risk taking, too bad the Colts could not be ready for it and that changed the complexion of the game.

I had called in to the Dan Dakich show earlier this year (1070 The Fan) and told him this Colts D's achilles heel is a QB running a 2 minute offense on them and recovering onside kicks (we lost 3 onside kicks attempted against us this year - Seahawks game, Titans game, and now in the SB). Then Vince Young and Alex Smith drove the ball down on our D at the end of the half in a 2 minute drill with spread formations (a QB not named Brady, Rivers or Schaub, to point out). Dan Dakich laughed at my comments saying that if that is the greatest weakness, he will take that weakness, yeah right!!!

This Colts' D is more stout against the run than the pass if you spread it out. Tom Brady would have killed us if the Pats didn't turn the ball over in the end zone twice (Bethea INT and Maroney fumble) because he played spread formation against us throughout the game, running and passing out of those formations. It was a matter of time before an elite QB made us pay for it.

I know you guys didn't win, but Congrats on a great season. In a way, I think this is a win because now you don't have to worry about whether or not you guys gave up on the Perfect season. That might've been equally as sickening.

Our pass rush would have gotten us killed against Favre too, huge dropoff if Freeney is not 100%. Freeney, Mathis, and Brackett have been way too banged up the last few seasons heading into the playoffs or in the playoffs and I am starting to wonder if our undersized personnel drafted for the Dungy system can ever remain healthy for a whole 16 game regular season. Could never explain why we want back to our zone coverage Cover 2 when our press coverage in the first quarter was working so well against Brees, bad game plan on the biggest stage on D. Kudos to NO for taking the underneath stuff.

Lack of pressure and the Saints not forcing the big play and not having turnovers, starting with the end of the 1st quarter, that is where the game really started changing. The onside kick sealed the momentum shift, IMO.

Sorry about the loss guys. I was rootin' for Peyton, being a former Tennessee Vol. I want him to go down as the best that's ever played. Plus, I was holding out faint hope that he would retire sooner if he got another ring, thus leaving the AFC South to be taken over by the Titans. :D

Nevertheless, congrats on a still spectacular season. Losing the big game is tough, but ya'll ain't goin' anywhere. Besides, at least ya'll already have a championship... :(

I am sorry about the loss. I really felt like the better team lost. It seemed pretty clear that he was going to score on the second to last drive. It would have been pretty hard to prevent that pick. Its a timing route and CB made a play.

The worst part about it is that now some how these pundits are going to tarnish Payton's legacy. He is the best QB of his time period.

I am sorry about the loss. I really felt like the better team lost. It seemed pretty clear that he was going to score on the second to last drive. It would have been pretty hard to prevent that pick. Its a timing route and CB made a play.

The worst part about it is that now some how these pundits are going to tarnish Payton's legacy. He is the best QB of his time period.

I think the result is justified. Saints were the better team imo. They played a great game. Big props to them.

I do agree regarding the INT play. That's the Colts money play in those situations (3rd-and-medium with blitz coming) and it has worked SO MANY times that it's no surprise that they went with it. I believe Porter (or another Saints CB) was beaten on a similar play earlier in that drive. Props to Porter and Saints' staff, they did their homework. He smelled it out. He got the inside position and made a great break for the ball.

BTW, Porter was another player that I remember being high on during his draft year. I remember James Hardy was getting all the hype, but I felt Porter was IU's best prospect.

I think the result is justified. Saints were the better team imo. They played a great game. Big props to them.

I do agree regarding the INT play. That's the Colts money play in those situations (3rd-and-medium with blitz coming) and it has worked SO MANY times that it's no surprise that they went with it. I believe Porter (or another Saints CB) was beaten on a similar play earlier in that drive. Props to Porter and Saints' staff, they did their homework. He smelled it out. He got the inside position and made a great break for the ball.

BTW, Porter was another player that I remember being high on during his draft year. I remember James Hardy was getting all the hype, but I felt Porter was IU's best prospect.

Reggie's break on the ball was not as good as we have seen him in the past. Even the out route where Jenkins got a jump on, you could tell the spring in his step was missing, maybe there was something to Reggie's injury more than the Colts let on. I do believe that if Reggie was 100%, Manning would have called a double move when he saw the Saints playing man in the 4th quarter once they got the lead, he probably did not do it since Reggie was playing hurt. When the Pats were playing Garcon man and playing him close, Manning called a "slugo" route, a slant and go and Garcon caught a TD. A similar thing for Reggie would have been in store if he were 100%. Saints played with safety help earlier in the game on Wayne but changed it and got more aggressive to jumping routes in the 4th quarter since they were confident Brees would score again on our D that was getting no pressure on him while up 24-17, any DC would have done that. Not to take away from Porter but Reggie's effort was wanting in that play and in that dropped pass in the end zone at the end where he almost closed his eyes.

I am sorry about the loss. I really felt like the better team lost. It seemed pretty clear that he was going to score on the second to last drive. It would have been pretty hard to prevent that pick. Its a timing route and CB made a play.

The worst part about it is that now some how these pundits are going to tarnish Payton's legacy. He is the best QB of his time period.

I don't feel all that bad about the loss. Not as bad as I expected. The Colts played hard but got beat. If they'd played stupid and messed around then I would be really upset, but the Saints were just the better team. I posted in late December, either here or on coltfreaks.com, that it had been a long time since the defense went up against a good QB with good receivers. It sure looked like it. Manning didn't have a terrible game, but he is hardly the sure-fire best ever QB that he would've been had they won. I put this loss more on the D not being able to recover from that damn onside kick. They went backwards and started playing Ron Meeks defense, and Brees made them pay by keeping Manning off the field and scoring.